i'd like to hear (read) your point of view.
today, i received some (mild) complaint from a friend who i had given the URL of my blog here. she wanted to comment to some of my pictures only to notice, that for commenting it is required to logon to a registered account on this forum.

while i guess that this is fully OK, considering the blog to be only a forum blog, i still feel a bit uncomfortable with this.
so, i'd like to propose to create something like a guest account for everybody to leave comments in the blog.

there should be certain limits, like 200 words or 1000 characters and no permission to enter pictures, and a restriction to enter comments in the blog only - finally, there should remain benefits from registering.

but looking at the general atmospere in this forum being quite open minded and more focussed on pictures and photography discussion than on brand nitpicking, i wonder what you (and the other forum members) think about opening an input channel for people who do not want to join here, but still want to leave some thoughts and comments.

or ... do we already have such a function, that only escaped from my awareness?

Some people join and donate money so that the site can be maintained. Some people want to come here anonymously, use the space, and leave comment without a trace. The full spectrum.

From my perspective, no membership, no service beyond viewing. You don't get respect for giving it away for free. And, if this Site needs help it should be asking for it, not waiting for a few to volunteer. Something like a simple $10 per year dues paid for on PayPal could generate the necessary funds to keep this place sane and running.

I bet there wouldn't be many out of the 1500 current members who wouldn't help out.

This place is unique. It isn't Flickr. I would like to see it stay that way.

This probably is not a good idea, no offense. I know your intentions mean well.
It would open the door to spammers. Then I have to work harder to destroy them before they bother you fine members.

Click to expand...

i do not see this risk. comments from a guest may remain invisible to the public until the blog owner or an admin releases them.
this functionality can be activated already for all comments in the blogs by the blog owner.

So then why not just join the forum?
It's easy to do. We get a few spammers a day here.
You don't usually see them because the Mod Squad does it's job to keep a clean forum.
By allowing guest to post, in time stuff will filter thru.
You wouldn't like spam posted on your blog. It would appear we are not doing our job very well.

Not to argue the point but I do see the risk.
I am an admin at a site with 150000 members.
We don't allow guest to post there either.
Shooter

Thanks Shooter. Let's sleep on it, wait for Brian to weigh in, and then I'll update this thread once we've reached a decision.

Please note that we are not considering allowing unregistered guests to post on the forums. That isn't going to happen. We are only discussing whether to allow individual members to enable guest posting on their own individual mu-43 blogs.

Thanks Shooter. Let's sleep on it, wait for Brian to weigh in, and then I'll update this thread once we've reached a decision.

Please note that we are not considering allowing unregistered guests to post on the forums. That isn't going to happen. We are only discussing whether to allow individual members to enable guest posting on their own individual mu-43 blogs.

I made a case for enabling guest comments on blogs on an opt-in, per blog basis, but the other mods either felt strongly that this was inadvisable or didn't have strong feelings. So, for the time being, we're going to keep things as they are.

Feel free to continue to give your input on this thread. All of us on the mod team greatly value member preferences.

I'm sorry the security and comfort of the forum as a whole outweighed our desire to accommodate your request for now... your friend can register very easily and make comments, or e-mail you directly.

You're a great photographer, and an asset to the blogosphere I hope you'll continue to enjoy the free facility here (where we can all enjoy seeing your work easily), or include a signature link to your personal blog if you prefer to go that route.

Links in this page may be to our affiliates. Sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.